ShareGuard

Quick Specs

Version:

4.0

Total Downloads:

6,229

Date Added:

Dec. 22, 2008

Price:

Free to try (30-day or 50-use trial); $29.95 to buy

File Size:

9.4MB

Downloads Last Week:

2

Platform:

Windows

Publisher's Description

+

From Zapper Software:
This program is for software developers who want to protect their software and create 30-day trial ware. This is a software copy protection system. ShareGuard consists of 4 components: ShareGuard Lock, ShareGuard Key, ShareGuard Locksmith, and CRC Check. ShareGuard works with any Windows programming language (Visual Basic, MS Access, C++, Delphi, VB.NET, and C#). It allows for several types of key generation and supports software leasing and EXE wrapping. ShareGuard will lock and unlock an unlimited number of customers for all of your products royalty-free.

Website is a total farce! DON'T FALL FOR THE ON-SITE REVIEW AWARDS! It was completely confusing just trying to download it and figure out what went to what. I tried the "help" links - no help at all. The program requires input that, not only do you not know where to find it, you don't have a clue what it is in the first place! Far too complex to even learn how to use.

Summary

This is written for a highly qualified "developer" not a typical end-user. I tried emailing the author. His responses were curt, abrupt and of no help at all. After sending 3 help requests, he wouldn't even reply any more. No idea if it even works. DO NOT BUY IT!

There is really nothing to like. The software requires 10 steps to use it, the documentation is in broken English and if that were not enough, you can't even install it to get it to work.

Cons

There is nothing to like about this product as it isn't a real product. Even when following the author's directions, you get errors that he will refuse to help you with. When you ask for a refund, you are then accused of software theft.

Summary

I need a simple solution to encrypt PDFs that I wanted to sell over the web. I ran across this software here, and since the price was not high ($30) thought I would give it a try.

What I got was an incoherent mess which was not able to be installed. When I asked for help, I got a simple one line email asking: "Why did you not follow my instructions?" Since the instructions are incomplete, and in poor broken English (manuals written in China are more grammatically correct), and the author states on his own webpage that his software is buggy and undergoing significant revision, I decided to ask for a refund.

What I got was the following:
You are not fooling anybody:
(1) This is shareware so there are no refunds as posted on my website. Can you not read? You put up on policies on your site. What do your customers say?
(2) You are in direct violation of the software agreement. You attempted to run the key on an unauthorized machine. You already provided proof of that.
(3) You cannot find software of this quality or price anywhere. You think I would sell you something later as you mentioned. I am tired of you cheats who think we will work for free for you while you steal our software.
(4) Yes, I see your name comes up on the web but I also have thousands of websites linking to me and I will post the truth about YOU on there and we will see how your overpriced saw sales go (eBay is cheaper and more reputable)...I am an honest player, you sir are not!
(5) I offered you help with your "problem" but as soon as you found out that my software keys could not re-distributed you declined my help and asked for a refund. How convenient...after you get the software key.
(6) You can do what you want...but be careful as you are in the wrong!

This elevates customer service to a new level. Ask for a refund, and get insulted and accused of theft. It is ironic that the author protects his keys with the same software that I hoped to use. So, unless you have the IQ of a 6 year old, it would probably make sense that you could not "steal" the software since it is encrypted by the same protections that you were seeking.

My estimate of what happened is that the software is so buggy that it wrote values to my registry which did not work. When I then tried to use the software, I could not install it completely, nor could I uninstall it to get it to work. The reality is that ShareGuard is the best definition of vaporware that I can think of. You are better off taking $30 out of your wallet and burning it...it's less hassle and gets you to the same result faster.

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